Colorectal Cancers Defined and Their Diagnosis
More Programs and Publications Featuring Dr. Fola May
In this program:
What is colorectal cancer, and how is it diagnosed? Dr. Fola May from UCLA Health explains colorectal cancer, how it develops, and how screening can help prevent colorectal cancer development.
Transcript
Broderick Rodell:
So, what are colorectal cancers, and how are they diagnosed?
Dr. Fola May:
We use the words colon cancer and rectal cancer, but many times we're kind of referring to the same thing and we group those two cancer types into colorectal cancer. So, colorectal cancers are cancers that start in the colon or rectum, and those are the two organs that make up the large intestine, so that's the very end of your digestive tract. They're grouped together because they have many features in common, and also they're grouped together because we treat them pretty similarly, and we diagnose them similarly. Colon cancers and rectal cancers are colorectal cancers that actually start as growths in the inner lining of the colon or rectum, and these growths are called polyps. There are small little bumps, they look like pimples when they start growing, but over time, these polyps can develop very abnormal cells and they can grow uncontrollably, and they can develop into cancers, unfortunately. So really the basis or the roots of colorectal cancers are in these polyps that upwards of 50 percent of us, which will develop in our lifetime, only a small percent of those polyps, of course, will transition into cancer. But really in screening, we're trying to take all the polyps out before they have a chance to transition into cancer.
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